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Securities
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May 03, 2024
SEC Fines Trump Media's Audit Firm For 'Massive Fraud'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday that it has fined and permanently suspended the public accounting firm of former President Donald Trump's social media company for allegedly running a "sham auditing mill" by failing to meet industry standards in reviewing the financial statements of hundreds of clients.
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May 02, 2024
Whistleblower Claims Would 'Destroy' Autonomy, GC Was Told
Autonomy's former U.S. general counsel testified Thursday in the criminal fraud trial of former CEO Michael Lynch that the company's chief operating officer didn't want a whistleblower's claims to get into court, telling him that while the "law" was on their side, "the facts look bad" and would "destroy Autonomy."
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May 02, 2024
SEC Lands $25M Judgment In TikToker-Wannabe Ponzi Suit
A South Carolina man and his companies must pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $24.9 million to settle claims that he misappropriated investors' money to make Ponzi payments to earlier investors and to pay for luxury cars and over $1 million to TikTok creators, according to judgments issued in Georgia federal court.
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May 02, 2024
Ex-JPM Trader Slams DOJ's 'Rank Opportunism' In Doc Suit
A former JPMorgan Chase & Co. foreign exchange trader is pressing a D.C. federal court to order the release of investigative material from the government's failed market manipulation criminal case against him, saying the U.S. Department of Justice's arguments against disclosure amount to "rank opportunism."
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May 02, 2024
Masimo Hit With Derivative Suit Over Audio Co. Acquisition
The top brass at medical device company Masimo Corp. has been hit with a shareholder derivative action claiming they harmed the company and "confused" investors by pushing through a $1 billion acquisition of an audio equipment company, allegedly causing a steep drop in stock prices and a $5.1 billion market capitalization loss.
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May 02, 2024
Tech, Finance Experts Urge CFTC To Consider AI Regs
Tech advisers urged the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday to consider policies to manage the risks associated with artificial intelligence, along with a list of other recommendations detailing potential approaches to the growing use of AI in financial markets.
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May 02, 2024
Attys Due For Spam Suit Sanction, But Not $750K, Judges Say
Class counsel's misconduct in helping instigate a spam text suit against stock-trading app Robinhood Financial LLC warranted sanctions, a Washington state appeals court panel ruled Thursday, but the judges said the $750,000 penalty went over the top in deterring the bad behavior.
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May 02, 2024
Microsoft, Activision Seek Del. Court Patch For $68.7B Sale
Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard petitioned Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday for an order validating Activision's already closed but officially "defective" $68.7 billion sale agreement, arguing that the court pointed the two companies to a "solution for missteps in Delaware's General Corporation Law.
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May 02, 2024
Chancery Ruling Plays Role In Tesla's S&P Governance Grade
Business rating agency Standard & Poor's has revised downward to "moderately negative" electric vehicle company Tesla Inc.'s grade for management and governance, pointing in part to CEO Elon Musk's dominant role, and the company's "uncommonly high" risk from lawsuits, including the Delaware Chancery Court's recent scuttling of his $56 billion pay plan.
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May 02, 2024
ADM Investor Says Brass Misled About Growth, SEC Probe
The current and former top brass of food processing company Archer-Daniels-Midland were hit with a derivative suit in Delaware federal court alleging they provided false information to investors about the company's growth and failed to disclose a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into its nutrition business.
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May 02, 2024
DOL Hit With First Lawsuit Over New Investment Advice Regs
The U.S. Department of Labor was hit with a lawsuit Thursday in Texas federal court seeking to invalidate recently finalized regulations that broaden who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, marking the first-filed legal challenge since the agency's late-April final release.
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May 02, 2024
Ex-FTX Boss Ryan Salame To Give Up $5.9M Bahamas House
Ryan Salame, the former co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, an affiliate of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd., has agreed to transfer a $5.9 million house he owns in the Bahamas to FTX in lieu of paying the firm restitution over fraudulent political donations, according to a Wednesday motion.
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May 02, 2024
Discover Ups Liability Costs For Card Pricing Issue To $1.2B
Discover Financial Services has put a $1.2 billion price tag on remediation for its previously disclosed credit card pricing misclassification, which is now the subject of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, representing an increase of nearly 230% from the $365 million liability it recorded nearly a year ago.
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May 02, 2024
Securities Firm Must Face Ex-Worker's Age Bias Suit
A Colorado federal judge refused to throw out a lawsuit a former securities sales representative lodged against a firm accusing it of firing him and replacing him with two younger workers, saying he put forward enough detail to keep his suit afloat.
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May 02, 2024
Davis Wright Brings On MoFo Appellate Litigator In San Fran
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has brought on a former Morrison Foerster LLP partner in San Francisco, strengthening its appellate practice with an experienced appellate litigator who clerked for a U.S. Supreme Court justice, a California Supreme Court justice and other judges, the firm announced Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
Snell & Wilmer Adds Armstrong Teasdale Tech Pro In Denver
Snell & Wilmer LLP's Denver outpost has added a new transactional partner to its corporate and securities team, bringing with him 18 years of experience including co-founding the technology transactions group for Armstrong Teasdale LLP and leading its technology industry group.
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May 02, 2024
Sullivan & Cromwell Creates National Security Practice Group
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has launched a national security practice to help clients with matters stemming from the increased use of economic sanctions, anti-money laundering laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, foreign investment regulations, export controls and import restrictions, the firm said Thursday.
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May 01, 2024
Autonomy CEO's Atty Says Judge 'One-Sided' Against Client
A Steptoe LLP partner representing former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch in his criminal fraud jury trial accused the judge overseeing the case of making comments to the jury that are "one-sided" in a way that prejudices the defense.
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May 01, 2024
Republicans Say Bank Merger Reviews 'Need A Shot Clock'
House Republicans on Wednesday raised concerns with federal banking officials about how long it can take their agencies to sign off on proposed bank mergers, a long-standing industry complaint that the lawmakers say a tight "shot clock" could help address.
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May 01, 2024
Dental Supply Co. Must Face Suit Over COVID-Era Woes
Dental health products supplier Dentsply Sirona Inc. failed to get a suit dismissed accusing it of misleading investors about the extent of its pandemic-era woes, with a New York federal judge finding the suit identifies dozens of actionable misleading statements and plausibly pleads knowledge of wrongdoing by Dentsply's former executives.
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May 01, 2024
Forex Fraudsters Hid Losses From Investors, Jury Hears
Federal prosecutors told a Colorado jury Wednesday that two men helping run a foreign exchange investment company sold investors on a supposedly successful trading algorithm that ended up being nothing more than a multimillion-dollar fraud.
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May 01, 2024
JPMorgan Says It's Paying $100M More In Trade Penalties
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday that it expects to pay $100 million to yet another U.S. regulator to resolve alleged deficiencies with its program for monitoring employee and client trading activities, a fine that comes on the heels of an additional $350 million in penalties stemming from its trade surveillance.
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May 01, 2024
Chancery Nixes Amazon.com Investor's Antitrust Docs Probe
An Amazon.com stockholder on Wednesday lost a Delaware Court of Chancery suit seeking court-ordered access to company records to probe claims that the online retailing giant engages in anti-competitive practices, with a court magistrate finding the evidence insufficient to justify the demand.
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May 01, 2024
PayPal Won't Face CFPB Enforcement Over Venmo Probe
Payments giant PayPal is not expecting any enforcement action from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the agency told the firm it was closing its inquiry into social payment subsidiary Venmo, the company disclosed in a securities filing.
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May 01, 2024
5 Benefits Appellate Arguments To Watch In May
The Second Circuit will be asked to revive a 401(k) mismanagement suit against Deloitte, the Sixth Circuit will consider whether to force arbitration of a 401(k) fee suit against two automotive companies, and the Seventh Circuit will review the U.S. Department of Labor's court-ordered takeover of a multiemployer benefit fund. Here, Law360 looks at five appellate arguments benefits attorneys will want to keep an eye on this month.
Expert Analysis
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10 Tips For ESG Disclosure Compliance In Private Funds
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As regulators increase scrutiny of misleading claims about environmental, social and governance investments, private fund sponsors should consider several practical tips for communicating accurately with potential investors, drafting comprehensive disclosures and establishing internal policies that can keep pace with evolving compliance requirements, says Jonathan Rash at Ropes & Gray.
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Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.
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What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors
Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.
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Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways
If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change
Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.
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Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.
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First 10b5-1 Insider Trading Case Raises Compliance Issues
The ongoing case against former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer is the U.S. Department of Justice's first insider trading prosecution based primarily on the filing of 10b5-1 plans, and has important takeaways for attorneys reviewing corporate policies on the possession of material nonpublic information, say attorneys at Cadwalader.
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Series
Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.
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Del. Lessons For Director-Nominees On Sharing With Activists
The Delaware Chancery Court's recent decision in Icahn Partners v. deSouza finding that a director wasn't permitted to share certain privileged information with the activist stockholders that nominated him shows the need for companies to consider imposing appropriate confidentiality requirements on directors, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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SEC Climate Rules Create Unique Challenges For CRE
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted final rules concerning climate-related disclosures for public companies are likely to affect even real estate companies that are not publicly traded, since they may be required to provide information to entities that are subject to the rules, says Laura Truesdale at Moore & Van Allen.
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Oracle Ruling Underscores Trend Of Mootness Fee Denials
The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent refusal to make tech giant Oracle shoulder $5 million of plaintiff shareholders' attorney fees illustrates a trend of courts raising the standard for granting the mootness fee awards once ubiquitous in post-merger derivative disputes, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Traversing The Web Of Nonjudicial Grievance Mechanisms
Attorneys at Covington provide an overview of how companies can best align their environmental and human rights compliance with "hard-law" requirements like the EU's recently approved Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive while also navigating the complex global network of existing nonjudicial grievance mechanisms.
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An NYDFS-Regulated Bank's Guide To Proper Internal Audits
As certification deadlines for compliance with the New York State Department of Financial Services’ transaction monitoring and cybersecurity regulations loom, lawyers should remember that the NYDFS offers no leeway for best efforts — and should ensure robust auditing and recordkeeping processes for clients, say attorneys at Arnall Golden.
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Discord Stock Case Toss Means Little For Fraud Defendants
A Texas federal court’s recent dismissal of fraud charges related to a "pump and dump" scheme on Discord is an outlier after the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped the right-to-control theory of fraud last year, and ultimately won't deter the government from pursuing routine securities prosecutions, says William Johnston at Bird Marella.